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america." -- "bbc world news." >> residents in the syrian city say they're suffering the heaviest bombardment yet. british based activist say 50 people have been killed already. where does the violence leave the president's promise of dialogue? >> hello. welcome to g.m.t. with the world of news and opinions. also in the program, it's not over until it's over. a clean sweep comeback from rick santorum, the republican presidential nomination race looks set to run and run. and dealing their way out of default in greece. can prime minister get coalition politicians to agree on a new austerity package?

it's midday here in london, early morning in washington, and 2:00 in the afternoon in the syrian city of homs where residents have told the bbc the government bombardment is the heaviest yet. report suggests as many as 50 people vve killed today, wednesday, that figure apparently includes a number of premature babies who died when their incubators failed. this fifth day of bombing raises questions of what was achieved by berussian prime minister. we will be speaking a member of a man from exile and this report from beirut. >> the violence goes on. residents say the morning bombardment was among the heaviest so far.

many buildings were hit, leaving streets strewn with republic. civilians are being -- rubble. civilians are being killed and injuried. this toddler was among several children died in the latest shelling. at the field hospital, this british syrian shows another young victim. >> is this what the u.s. waited for? is this what the u.s. has waited for? there is any more children left? until they kill all the women and children? >> it's not clear if this was an all-out ground assault, but the government has said it will keep going until all armed opposition is wiped out. all this just hours after the president talked with the russian minister and pledged once again to halt the bloodshed.

we put the question directly to president aschaud said it is the task of the vice-president to make contact with all opposition groups and to organize national dialogue which will be inclusive and solve all political forces in syria. >> but with the crackdown on the ground continuing, most of the opposition don't see the russians as honest brokers. with thousands killed, they don't want to talk to the regime. and the rest of the world isn't likely to fall into line after the russian-chinese veto at the security council. if moscow is urging restraint, the results are not yet evident. >> with me here in the studio is a syrian opposition activist based in london. thank you for being with us. it sounds as if it seems as if

there is to be any dialogue as far as the president assaad is concerned, it will come only after he has retaken homs. >> yeah. the regime in syria wants to break the back of the revolution. wants to break the back of the free syrian army which controls sectors of homs. they have attempted for several months to take back a number of neighborhoods but they failed. and what they're want to is shell the residential areas killing civilians and putting pressure on the civilians that if you continue to harbor and support the free syrian army, then you will be targeted. >> as a tactic and we reported on the civilian deaths, for example, but as a tactic, it is working. the u.n. has been able to do nothing. the russian foreign minister urged the government for dialogue but things are going on in homs. >> the regime is losing almost

all of its international -- >> it doesn't matter. it doesn't seem to matter to the regime. if its goal is to break the back of the opposition in homs, it is exactly what it's doing now. >> i don't think it's going to break the back of the opposition of homs. the majority of the syrian people are for the revolution. what has happened in the last few months is they have lost all of his iran friends say for iran and all of his international friends and allies say for russia. and in the long term, he's going to pay the price for all these countries. they're going to support the opposition now in terms of real backing. >> you say that's in the long term. but what about now? he says he's friendless, he's got china the veto power at the u.n. so what alternative is the syrian opposition coming up with? >> well, the syrian national

council, the main coalition has voiced backing for the free syrian army which is on the ground in syria, fighting against assaad's forces. >> that's the call you made over and over again. whatever the council says is undermined by the fastball that the syrian national council is a fragmented group. >> well, i don't agree that it's a fragmented group. ok, it may be true that it's a coalition of various political forces, but you got to realize syria for the last 40 years as hived -- has lived under a dictatorship. political parties haven't been allowed to form and to develop in a natural sort of way. so perhaps it might be understandable for there to be certain frictions or certain divisions but if you look at the picture as a whole, the syrian opposition is united for assaad to step down for a transition to

step down. and that's what the international community wants. >> but democratic transition, that could have been done, you know, 11 months ago. calling for assaad to step down, that could have been done 11 months ago. let's just consider next week. what are you offering in the next week? >> the syrian opposition is going to step up its actions against the syrian regime. it's quite obvious that dialogue is not going to work with the president regardless of what the russian prime minister said -- foreign minister said and only armed resistance is going to put the sufficient pressure on him to step down or to initiate a real process of the democratic transition. >> all right. we have to leave it there. thank you. >> you're welcome. >> let's take a listen at some of the other stories making headlines around the world. american politics. just when it seems that mitt romney was on a glide path to win the republican party nomination for the u.s.

presidential election, last night changed everything. rick santorum has won the contest in missouri, minnesota, and colorado. washington correspondent adam brooks has this story. [applause] >> rick santorum was savoring victory. he is a former senator and he claims to be the standard bearer of american social and religious conservatism, the man who should challenge barack obama for the presidency in november. voters in missouri and minnesota and colorado agreed with him. he won all three states. [applause] >> your votes today were not just heard loud and wide across the state of missouri and minnesota, but they were heard loud and louder, all across this country. >> his is a long shot candidacy. he lacks money and organization, but he won some real momentum here. for the frontrunner for the republican nomination, mitt

romney, the former governor of massachusetts, this has been a worrying turn of events. >> this was a good night for rick santorum. i want to congratulate senator santorum. we will keep on campaigning down the road but i expect to become our nominee with your help. >> mr. romney has a powerful machine at his command but he's struggling to win the affection of the republican party. after his speech, this. someone tried to throw glitter all over him. the secret service had to intervene. what these results seem to tell us is republican voters seem to be divided on who the presidency should be. mitt romney maye may be the frontrunner but religious conservatives don't seem to like the look of him. there are still many contests to go before the nomination is settle on and voters seem to be telling mr. romney's rivals don't give up. adam brooks, bbc news,

washington. >> coalition parties in greece are expected to strike a deal on a new austerity package later that will prevent the country from defaulting on its debt. the office of the greek prime minister told the bbc an agreement had finally been reached the proposed deal is expected to be formed around the conditions set out by international lenders. that would include a 20% cut to the minimum wage. it will also include further cuts to pension which is have already been hit hard. and a 15,000 job cut in the civil service. well, the austerity measures are not proving popular among the greek public. it lies to athens now. mark lowe is there. so the prime minister's office saying a deal is just about there, but i mean, just explain for us how tough this is going to be on the public and what the public reaction might be to these kinds of things. >> it's going to be a very, very hard sell indeed, george. what we saw yesterday was a pretty large demonstration about

20,000 strong despite appauling weather. people coming out to vent their anger that this government is now going to have to push forward in order for the bail utah money without which this country would default in mid marge and that is something that -- march and that could sen the global economy into a tailspin and that will lead the question over greece's place in the euro. it will probably receive a sign between the prime minister and the party leaders. but it will be deeply unpopular among ordinary greeks to feel deeply squeezed by two years of austerity and the feeling is that they can't really take much more, that they have reached breaking point. many months of social unrest to come. >> there is this central argument is whether you can make a country and an economy grow while you're carrying through these savage cut which is affects consumption, and people's ability to spend. >> you're right.

and this is now a country which is in its fifth consecutive year of recession and many economists and many greeks argue that the austerity that is being pushed through by the european union and i.m.f. are exacerbating the recession, it's prolonging the recession and preventing greece from being able to grow out of recession. so this is the central argument at the core of the greek bailout is the strategy totally wrong? is it totally floored? or greek needs to go through this in order to emerge in a couple of years' time. really the economy is likely to contact for another year after this. and greeks are likely to continue to be squeezed even more. this is a debate that economists will don't have. i think that said, it's not a part that the government is deviate from because it is under so much pressure to receive the bailout money and the i. and i.m.f. are contributing so much

money. so it is a strategy that is likely to continue and one that is likely to be debated here and deeply unpopular among greeks. >> thank you, mark. the former president of maldives, mohamed nasheed accused his successor that a queue has overthrown him. -- coo has overthrown him. the new president denied there was any organized lot take power. security officials in pakistan said an airstrike killed at least 10 militants near the afghan border. initial officials say several others lost engine men the drone suspected militant hideout. the latest in the growing diplomatic risk between argentina and britain has seen the argentine president pledging to make a formal demrinet

britains sending one of its modern warships to the islands. addressing a group of politicians and war veterans, she accused britain of militarizing the south atlantic. a leading english folklore premier league manager have been found not guilty on two counts of tax evasion. the men were accused of concealing payments of $300,000 when he was the manager at portsmouth. james pierce is at the court in central london. >> four charges are against him, and two charges against harry there was one central allegation. the allegation from the prosecution that money was paid into monaco bank account on which tax should have been paid. the prosecution claim it was a bonus, a bonus for profit made on the transfer of peter crowd. he was sold for a profit of 3

million pounds. he believed he should have received 10%. right now, yes, it is true that harry was upset and he received 5% but the money which was paid in monaco is not connected at all. they ait was an investment. they were good friends and they both said in their defense that their investment was an act of friendship. >> james pierce there. still to come on g.m.t., keeping it in the family. we're in india to discuss why the country's superrich are placing their wealth close to home. let's take a look at some front pages from newspapers around the world today. moscow times writes about the russian foreign minister's trip to sir have a and the support by

laroff to president assed. moving on to the tension over the forkland islands. argentina's government has played an unlikely card. it's renamed its football league after a warship torpedoed by a british submarine during a conflict over the disputed islands. the plan by glencoe to create a $90 billion mining giant has hit a snag which reports on growing opposition to the deal from investor groups. and prove the critics wrong. that's the message from the boss of the royal bank of scotland in the daily telegraph. they are calling its works to overcome the public and political anger that's being aimed at the bank. time for the business news with aaron. let's start with germany. an eye-watering figure.

it's one trillion euros. >> you may feel like doing this. look, clear signs, george, of this whole huge imbalance in the euros. and reminding everybody we've got seven peripherals pumped out by bailout and greece and its fifth year of recession. germany says its exports in 2011 skyrocketed. they ex port so much they've reached the one trillion euromark for the first time. and perhaps no surprises that the exports outside of europe saw the strongest growth, up some 11.5% -- 13%. but germany's got to cover all over the board because even the exports in europe were up 10%. clearly shows if you've gotten a economy that makes good stuff like the germans and that people want, then your economy continue to grow. let's have a listen to this.

>> that's the big motor to the germany economy and the european economy and it highlights the structural imbalances. germany -- there are deficits in the rest of europe and that's a fundamental problem. >> it is a fundamental problem. i should also add about the imbalance. the central bank of france in the first three months of this year, france's economy is going to stagnate. >> let's look at banking now. here in britain, there's been this whole thing about banker's bonuses and r.b.s.'s, more or less stable. steven he is had to hand back his bonus last week. he's spoken up for the first time. >> it's important to remind viewers that royal bank of scotland is a bank that needed to be bailed out during the financial crisis. it's still 82% owned by the u.k. taxpayer and this outcry has been going on for weeks in this country about should he take his $1.5 billion bonus?

he said i'm not a robot. i was deeply depressed. he defend his role in the bank. he said he was brought in to clean it up. he said he faced the biggest time bomb in banking history but when asked about the attacks and asked if it was a witch hunt, this is what he had to say. >> i understand why these issues are controversial, particularly in a time of austerity. this isn't the only country going through austerity but i understand why it's controversial and we underestimated that going forward, but yes, the spotlight r.b.s. is in makes our job more difficult and in turn, makes it harder for what we have to do for our country but we have to overcome that. >> he certainly have to overcome that and given banks around the world are still not rock solid. the bonus issue will continue raging on. >> all right, aaron, thank you. >> to sport now. and the semifinals of the africa cup of nations football tournament which takes place later today. three of the teams that have

made it to this stage are from the west of the continent. once again, confirming the region's reputation as a powerhouse of african football. here's more. ♪ >> marley fans enjoying their prolong stay in lieber v.m.i. despite eliminating the co-host in the last round, they're surrounded by friends. gavon is home to a large number of -- they've been out in force whenever that team is played. >> >> because long time africa are number one. now finish. >> this is the stadium they'll be filing into. the friendship stadium. thousands of supporters are also coming, sing their songs, banging their drums and waving their flags. it's a game between two west

african neighbors, ghana, another local rival also made it to the semifinals. after four tournaments dominated by teams from the nauert of the continent, the power base in african football has shifted. >> the west african nation are definitely the best on the continent. i think if you look at marley, marley is not a briment team to look at when it comes to football but they are so strong physically and very discipline and every player plays in front, in europe. i don't think we have to talk much about them. >> it seems ivy coast are considered major contenders at every africa cup nations but they gained the reputation for fluffing their lines. they say things are now different. there's more cohesion. the team plays as a team and they developed the winning mentality. and they are determined that this campaign won't end in

disappointment. ivy coast neuly discovered united front as reinforced general opinion that this is the best team on the continent. but as marley has already proved in the competition, reputations can be broken. alex capstick, "bbc world news," lieberville. >> when it comes to making big money in india, it's all about keeping it in the family. the top billionaires are from family enterprises passing their own to their own generation. in keeping with the times, more children are choosing their own paths, but in some of the countries, top enterprises, blood is still thicker than water. here's more. ♪ >> for four generations, this family being in business, known for everything from motor bikes to home appliances to insurance. they were started by great

grandfather, a close friend of mogaundi. this is your grandfather? >> yes. and that's my grandmother. that's my aunt, oldest aunt. >> this man and his son run the electricals and say it's in their d.n.a. >> since childhood, my father, all of them would talk business at home if in the evening. when we were young, we just sit around. so it was something that was already there all the time. >> one reason they believe family empire so is strong is undefied loyalty. but is there an unfair advantage? if they're getting the business passed on to you solely because of your genes? >> it gives you a head start, yes, that's about it but after that, actually, because we are in the family, it's a much more higher expectation,. >> this building behind me is believed to be the world's most expensive house. it's owned by india's wealthiest

man and from a family-run empire. in fact, the vast majority of the country's top 10 richest are from family-run enterprises. lost ties in business happen all walks of life here in india. often to trade down for the next generation has been part of the country's cultural fabric for centuries. the idea of extended families living together. in this swanky mansion live three generations of one family. some decided to carry on their father's multi-billion steel business. it's not just personal but practical. having a family network of contacts and clients is invaluable. >> a lot of external hurdles and in order for it to be established, you really, really need to be committed to it. and it's just so happens that families tend to be more committed to their own business than outsiders. >> these brothers say they don't

argue, but there are many documented cases of family businesses equaling family split. even so, the tradition of keeping it in the family looks set to continue to keep people in the money in india. >> and a reminder of our top story on g.m.t. syrians under attack from government forces in homs say this morning has seen the heaviest bombardments so far in five days of shelling. a bbc correspondent has witnessed the attack and says there is a sense of despair in the city that it's been abandoned to its faith by the international community. for on the continuing conflict on the city of homs, go tour website. you'll find further analysis. well, that's it for this part of g.m.t. stay with us as plenty more to come.

>> make sense of international news. bbc.com/news. >> funding for this presentation is made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu newman's own foundation and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in. working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions for small businesses and major corporations. what can we do for you?

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